Thursday, November 1, 2012

If you were reading closely this week, you'll notice that I said I didn't buy any new yarn on Sunday. That's true. Despite the temptation to click over to BMFA and whisk through all the money I'd allotted for Vogue Knitting live, I instead went to the stash. I did remember, though, that there have been a couple of yarn purchases that we've not discussed.

First is the last Blue Moon Fiber Arts purchase that I did make. When Tina posted in August about the online barn sale, I may have been first in line at the check out. Certainly I was trying to be. 3 skeins of mediumweight at $13/skein? That was a price I could not resist. I was momentarily hesitant--what if the bag that Tina selected for me just wasn't in my palette? What if it was all yellow? But the price point won over my concern and, as most of my socks are gifts anyway, colors outside my usual palette would go nicely into the gift bin.

I shouldn't have worried. I don't know if Tina or anyone at the barn consulted my order history when choosing for me but they couldn't have picked a better bag. One skein of pinkish-purple with teal, one vibrant dark purple, and one shockingly bright green with pops of purple and blue. My favorite color was obviously tying these three skeins together.

(Apologies, I realized as I was winding skein 1 that y'all hadn't seen these yet). See my post from late Sunday night for a better picture of the purple skein.

The best part, though, was when the Philosopher saw the package as I unwrapped it. We had been discussing colors that the esteemed Philosoparents might enjoy in knitted gifts and I wanted to add these to the potential pile. He examined them and immediately announced he wanted all of them for himself.

That's right, my boyfriend, who is never happier than when dressed in jeans and a black shirt, wanted the bright purple, green, and pink/teal yarns for his feet.

I found a good one, fellow knitters. Not only does he identify what of the stash he'd like, but he likes to wear his handknit socks when we're going to events where he can take his shoes off (parties in people's homes usually) so other people can see and admire his handknit socks. Last Saturday I suggested that it was cold enough for a pair of handknit socks and he was very excited to get to break them out for the first time this season.

And in the category of outside of my usual color palette: the travel yarn I bought while attending a wedding in North Carolina.

We were in Raleigh and I was pleased to see that a yarn store was only about a ten minute drive from the hotel. I went the morning after the wedding, in between the morning-after brunch and a spectacular bbq lunch that preceded a lot of sitting in the airport waiting for our flight.

The store was called Great Yarn. It's a small but interesting store. The lady who was working was trying very hard to talk catch all of the people coming in for help on the three hours they were open on Sunday. After two passes through the store though, I didn't see anything I couldn't buy at home. It's one of my strong preferences to not buy major brand yarn at a festival or a store in another state. I can get Cascade and Berroco etc at home, that's not yarn I'll remember. The lady minding the store noticed my frustration and asked what I was looking for. Did they, I ask, have *anything* locally dyed?

They did, a few skeins in a bin that was mostly full of Malabrigo, which is how I'd overlooked it as I'd gone through the store. I don't imagine they get a lot of tourist traffic, but it would have been nice for the dyer for them to make it a bit more prominent. The yarn is from Three Waters Farm in Graham, NC and--since the dyer didn't name it--I'm calling the colorway Strawberry Banana.

The base is superwash merino and it's probably destined to become gift socks. Right now it's just memories of a really good Bloody Mary with extra olives and a really beautiful bride.